Seeing and Not Seeing

Can you see something without really seeing it? Your brain can: A new study from Germany finds that a specific neuron in the brain fires up when a person sees a photograph of a familiar face, even if the person isn't aware of seeing it.

The first of these was published in 2005, when a team of researchers identified what they nicknamed the "Jennifer Aniston neuron" — a single neuron in a study participant's brain that lit up when the participant recognized the face of a specific person — such as Jennifer Aniston, Bill Clinton or Halle Berry.